Republican front-runners weren’t the only things missing from the presidential debate stage. The American flag was AWOL, too.

The backdrop to the “All-American Presidential Forum,” brought to you by Tavis Smiley and PBS, was a map of the United States, superimposed with a checkerboard of multicultural faces.

Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, one of the presidential hopefuls, asked debate organizers to get Old Glory up there, too, according to Chris Cavey, first vice chairman of the state GOP.

Cavey was acting as an escort for another candidate, Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and heard Hunter’s request over his earpiece about half an hour before the show began.

“Escorts were wired. I heard [in the earpiece], ‘Congressman Hunter is requesting a flag on stage,'” Cavey said.

Request denied.

It seems the debate organizers didn’t want Old Glory spoiling the rainbow set:

The buzz among some Republicans was that organizers thought the flag might “offend” some members of the audience. Cavey, while critical of the decision, chalks it up to aesthetics, not politics. Red-white-and-blue simply would have clashed with the map’s yellow-to-burnt-orange hues…

Isn’t it possible that the producers just couldn’t find a flag in time after Hunter raised the issue?

“They could have walked across the street to the police station to get a flag in half an hour, and I know personally that Morgan State University has a flag somewhere,” Cavey said. “I thought it was absolutely inappropriate that the ‘All-American Presidential Debate’ couldn’t even produce an American flag.”